Jerusalem falls. Jeremiah has been telling his audience to return to God or else. The “or else” has arrived. What struck me right away was the two-year attack before the fall. Granted, warfare would have looked a lot different back then than it does now. But still, two years of a siege would still mean fear, destruction, homelessness, hunger, death. Not a pretty sight!
I don’t want to spend much time thinking about what happened to Zedekiah. It’s frightening to see such brutality take place between human beings, even if they are nasty kings who ignored and rebelled against God. Zedekiah’s punishment was not escapable according to Jeremiah’s prior prophecies. My takeaway is to see God’s seriousness. When he says something, it will happen. That’s an understanding Zedekiah clearly did not have. He could have prevented the whole slaughter. Do you feel at all sorry for Zedekiah?
Thankfully, Jeremiah was safe. That was the cool part of this story. After all this time, one might wonder in what shape Jeremiah will find his home. With most of the people gone now, what will food and water supply be like? After Jerusalem’s fall, the town was likely in shambles. But at least there would be no more attacks from the Babylonians.
We also read about God’s mercy shown to Ebed-melech. He was an Ethiopian official in the king’s palace who rescued Jeremiah from the cistern back in Chapter 38. That would have been a dangerous thing to do. God saw his faithfulness. “Because you trusted me, I will give you your life as a reward. I will rescue you and keep you safe.”
What do the “rescue” accounts tell us about God? He takes interest in those who are faithful and loyal to him. It makes sense. God rescues those who were faithful to him. We see it all throughout the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah has protected on more than one occasion. The fact that he was incarcerated was certainly unpleasant, but God continued to use him, and from we can tell, Jeremiah’s allegiance stayed strong.
I wonder if Jeremiah was thinking, “what next?” He had been God’s representative for so long. What would he do now? The messages he had shared about how to avoid the coming doom had been fulfilled. God spared his life for a reason. We’ll have to stay tuned to see what more is revealed to us in this book.
Focus today on your relationship with God. How devoted are you? Could you be spending more time with God in his word? We have our own battles to fight each day. The wisdom of Romans 12:2 cautions us: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” We can renew our minds by filling it with things of God. God’s word is a great place to begin.
Let’s pray … Lord, there is so much in the world today that is corrupt and discouraging. Thank you that you are eternal, and I can trust you completely. Forgive me when I fail to listen to your voice. I want to be tuned in to you and your wisdom. Thank you for how you rescued Jeremiah, your servant. I am grateful for how you have rescued me, too. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
